BNP-Paribas has the French courts' permission to raise Brentano's rent from 7000 to 20,000 euros per month. The sad result? Brentano's, Paris's American bookstore since 1895, closes its doors today. :(
A lot of the Charing Cross Road book shops in London have met with the same sorry fate. :(
BNP-Paribas' slogan seems particularly appropriate: "The bank for a changing world." Changing not necessarily for the better, it seems...
Now I wonder, what will happen to The Village Voice on rue Princesse, or The Red Wheelbarrow in the Marais? To Shakespeare & Co.?
Zut! Sacre Bleu. Not good news!
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